Spinner.com Turns to Sun to Transform Into Online Music Powerhouse

Business Wire, Oct 27, 1998

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 27, 1998--

Premier Internet Music Service Delivers Enhanced Music

Programming to its Two and a Half Million Listeners with

Sun(TM) Systems and Java(TM) Technology

Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced that Spinner.com, the first and largest multi-channel Internet music service with more than 38 million impressions per month, has chosen Sun(TM) as the platform of choice to power its high-quality Internet music service.

Spinner.com tapped a range of Sun Enterprise(TM) servers, Sun StorEdge(TM) products, the Solaris(TM) operating environment, and Java(TM) technologies to become the leading provider of music services on the Internet, delivering a host of user-defined features for continuous-music programming.

"Sun was able to provide us with a solid foundation for delivering Spinner.com's finely segmented, high-quality digital music," said David Samuel, CEO of Spinner.com. "During the past months, we've experienced tremendous audience growth, and Sun's highly reliable systems have been instrumental to our success. We are confident that Sun will continue to support our continual growth with cost-effective, scalable, solutions."

Spinner.com implemented Sun technology this past summer when it rebuilt itself from the ground up, and relaunched from TheDJ.com. It relied on Sun technologies and a RealMedia Server from RealNetworks, running on Sun Enterprise 4500 server, to offer a new range of services to its already robust audience.

Within the past six months, Spinner.com has grown 700 percent, attracting more than 2.5 million listeners. Spinner.com broadcasts more than one million songs dispersed over 100 channels of unique music covering various genres of music -- Rock, Oldies, Themes, TopHits, MoodFood, Classical, Jazz&Blues, Urban&Dance, Country&Folk and World&NewAge, -- offering listeners the largest database of continuous, streamed, programmed music on the Internet. To accommodate these growing enterprise needs and traffic volume, Spinner.com launched with a combination of Sun Enterprise servers and Sun StorEdge products to support the back end of the company's online environment.

Key to Spinner.com is the enhanced feature set and customization offered to users, enabled by the company's selection of ATG's Dynamo, a Web server-side application framework based on Sun's Java technology. Spinner.com products include "Spinner," a Web-based player that can be instantly launched and played; SpinnerPlus, a downloadable player that works independently of a Web browser; "Spinner Faceplate," a customized, co-branded version of the Spinner players that can be launched from a partner's Web site; and Spinner For You, a simple-to-install "button" that adds a link to Spinner's players from any Web site. These products leverage Sun's Java technology-based framework to allow users access to information from Spinner.com's back-end database.

"The management and delivery of new media content to online customers is redefining the traditional music industry," said Bill Correll, group manager digital media markets, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Sun's server, storage and Java technologies provide innovative media companies, like Spinner.com, the ideal platform for customizable, high-quality Internet audio services."

Spinner.com Spinner.com is the first and largest multi-channel Internet music service, delivering more than 120,000 digitized songs in more than 100 highly specialized music channels. Covering an unprecedented depth and breadth of music programming -- with channels such as 90's Rock, Bluegrass, British Invasion, Chicago Blues, Top Pop, Great Guitar, Jungle and Latin -- Spinner.com reaches more than 2.5 million listeners worldwide, broadcasting more than one million songs per day. Based in Silicon Valley, Spinner.com couples the power of the Internet with advanced digital audio technology to raise entertainment to a new octave. The Spinner.com music players -- the Web-based Spinner and the stand-alone Internet application Spinner Plus -- display song information as music is played, while providing dynamic links that enable online purchasing and real-time listener feedback. The strength of these features has fostered partnerships with industry leaders including RealNetworks, Amazon.com, @Home Network, GameSpot, LAUNCH Media, and The Ultimate Band List (UBL), as well as more than 100 record labels. Visit Spinner.com at www.spinner.com.

Sun Microsystems Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The Computer(TM)," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW), to its position as a leading provider of high quality hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $9.5 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com.

Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, Solaris, Sun Enterprise, Java, Sun StorEdge, HotJava, and The Network is the Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and in other countries.